Main menu

Business

Congress had to finally revoke the labeling law for red meat after a struggle of over a decade. Under the law, retailers had to mention the country of origin on the packaging of the meat. The fight has been going on between the meat industry and Congress since the early-2000s. Now, it will not be possible to know the raising and slaughtering destination of beef or pork. The repetitive negative ruling by the World Trade Organization ((WTO) forced the lawmakers to revoke the law.

Around 190 employees in Colorado have been laid off over Muslim prayer protest. Cargill Meat Solutions said Thursday that it has made efforts to resolve a workplace prayer dispute with Somali workers at its Fort Morgan meatpacking plant, but resulted into firing of around 190 workers.

The company officials were sorting out the matter with the representatives for the workers, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The dispute centers on the time of day at which workers can pray which keeps on changing with seasons in the Muslim faith.

Citing tax reasons, Bill Ackman, the activist investor and a strong defender of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, has reduced his firm’s stake in the drug company. In a regulatory filing, billionaire Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management has sold around 5 million worth Valeant shares to ‘generate a tax loss’ for investors.

A settlement of 318 million euros ($348 million) has been reached between the tax office of Italy and Apple after the latter failed to make its tax payments of six years. A deal is also likely to be signed by the iPhone and iPad manufacturer to outline protocols for making its tax payments from 2015 onwards.

The retail giant Amazon declared previous year’s holiday shopping season as record-breaking. Every additional spending of $1made by Americans on a particular item online last year helped Amazon capture around 51 cents.

Ben Schachter, a retail analyst at Macquarie, said that out of the expected $94 billion retail sales previous year, Amazon alone claimed for around $22 billion, or almost a quarter. This holiday shopping season also served to solidify the notion that the Internet is increasing Jeff Bezos’ world and the rest of us are just shopping in it.

Uber is one of the most popular choices when it comes to ride services. But owing to increased number of calls at New Year’s eve, many people had to pay a lot extra to go back home after seeing fireworks. Uber’s Facebook page was full of complaints on Friday in which passengers said they were charged up to hundreds of dollars more than the usual price to reach back home from the city at night.

As per a new 2014 report released by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), twinning rate has hit all time high in the United States in 2014. In 2014, the birth rate for twins was 33.9 sets of twins per 1,000 births compared to 33.7 in 2013. It has been reported that mothers continued to get older in 2014 with the average age for the first-time mother has now become 26.3, which it was 26 in 2013.

In the year ended October, home values were witnessed to have increased at a faster pace in 20 US cities. Lean inventories of available properties along with improving demand are said to have increased home values.

The S&P/Case-Shiller index of property values jumped 5.5% from October 2014 after it increased 5.4% in the year ended September. As per a survey carried out by Bloomberg, 21 analysts have predicted a 5.6% advance. But nationally, prices increased 5.2% year-on-year.

On the eve of Christmas season, when everyone was deeply involved in welcoming Santa and celebrating the festival, Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc’s CEO was battling with severe pneumonia in a hospital. Laurie Little, spokeswoman of the company, said that J. Michael Pearson, 56-year-old CEO, was admitted recently and is receiving treatment. She said that the company’s wishes and blessings are with Mr. Pearson and they wish a speedy recovery for him.

In the face of lack of time, several shoppers came out to buy last-minute gifts and grocery items on the eve of Christmas prior to the closure of stores. Shoppers don’t find it to be a perfect way to spend their Christmas Eve, but they are not left with many options as the time during the festival flies.